Climbers generally use clean protection devices for two distinct purposes. First, a clean protection device may be used as a form of safety protection for protecting a climber in the event of a fall and second, a clean protection device may intentionally be used to artificially support a climber's weight. Clean protection devices cam or wedge into a crack, hole, gap, orifice, taper, or recess in order to support an outward force. The surface on which the clean protection device supports the outward force is considered the protection surface. The protection surface can consist of natural materials such as rock or may consist of artificial materials such as concrete or wood.
Clean protection devices are generally divided into the categories active and passive. Passive protection devices include a single object, which contacts the protection surface to support an outward force. For example, a wedge is a passive protection device because it has a single head with a fixed shape. There are numerous types of passive protection devices including nuts, hexes, tri-cams, wedges, rocks, and chocks. Active protection devices include at least two movable objects that can move relative to one another to create a variety of shapes. For example, a slidable chock or slider nut is considered an active protection device because it includes two wedges that move relative to one another to wedge into various shaped crevices. When the two wedges of the slider nut are positioned adjacent to one another, the overall width of the protection device is significantly larger than if the two wedges are positioned on top of one another. The two wedges must make contact with the protection surface in order to actively wedge the device within the protection surface. A further subset of active protection is camming devices. These devices translate rotational displacement into linear displacement. Therefore, a slider chock would not be an active camming device because the two wedges simply slide relative to one another and do not rotate. Camming devices include two, three, and four cam lobe devices. The cam lobes on an active camming device are generally spring biased into an expanded position and are able to rotate or pivot about an axle to retract. In operation, at least one cam lobe on either side of the unit must make contact with the protection surface for the device to be able to actively support an outward force. Some active protection devices can also be used passively to support outward forces as well.
One of the problems with active camming devices relates to operation of the connection and retraction system. The connection system interconnects the cam head, cam lobes, and connection point of an active camming device. The connection system includes the stem region between the cam head and cam lobes and the trigger and connection point. The connection system must maintain structural integrity of the entire camming system while enabling flexibility to articulate around objects during operation. The retraction system selectively enables the cam lobes to rotate between the extended and retracted states with respect to the cam head. The retraction system may include various wires/cables extending along the stem region so as to enable the trigger to selectively engage the refracted state of the cam lobes. The connection and retraction system designs of conventional active camming devices generally decrease durability in an effort to increase operational performance. For example, one type of conventional retraction system includes externally extending retraction wires along the stem region between the cam lobes or yoke and the trigger to provide improved performance. The exposed wires enable substantially independent cam lobe operation at the expense of potential wire abrasion damage. Other conventional retraction systems utilize an exposed sleeve coupled between the cam lobes and trigger at expense of operational flexibility. The exposed sleeve provides improved durability over the exposed wires/cables at the expense of operational performance because the retraction system will likely be impeded if it articulates around or over an object.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for an improved connection and retraction system that efficiently maintains optimal performance and durability.